Overview

• Wenheng Zhao, a U.S. Navy sailor, has been sentenced to over two years in prison for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to a Chinese intelligence officer.
• Zhao collected nearly $15,000 in bribes in 14 different payments from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for information, photos and videos of Navy exercises, operations and facilities.
• The information included plans for a large-scale U.S. military exercise in the Indo-Pacific region, detailing the location and timing of naval force movements.
• Zhao used encrypted communications to transmit the information to the intelligence officer and destroyed the evidence to hide their relationship.
• Zhao was one of two U.S. Navy sailors based in California who were charged last summer with providing sensitive military information to China.